I've just received my preview copies of the latest edition of Dance of Danger, which is coming out in Large Print (Linford Romance, Ulverscroft) very soon. I have been wondering what the image on the book cover would look like. Here it is - pretty good, considering there was absolutely no input from me. They have given the heroine red hair (she starts the novel with a red tint in her hair, before it returns to natural dark blonde as the story progresses). Also there is the image of the ballet dancer in the background. I wonder if they looked at my own cover, which I designed for the ebook version?

Of course, every author has a mental image of what the heroine looks like. When I was searching for an image for my ebook cover, I trawled the internet for the right picture, that struck a chord with me. This one seemed ideal. I liked the model's situation, in a wood, which to me evoked the setting of the novel. The heroine's home is in the country, with woods and a river nearby. I liked the face of the model - to me, she could have been Sonia. But I also wanted to give an idea of the ballet theme, so I added the dancer in the background. Sonia looks as if she is dreaming of her days as a ballet dancer. To return to the new cover from Linford Romance, it looks as if they have chosen the same theme. Sonia looks up to the image of the ballet dancer, as if she was recalling the days when she was a dancer, before her injury. The model's face doesn't quite reflect my own idea, but it conveys the theme of the novel well.

I was surprised when I first saw the My Weekly design for the novel. But I have grown to like it very much. I was asked by the publishers what the heroine looked like, and I mentioned that she was dark blonde, not about the red tint at the beginning of the novel. The artist has conveyed the theme of the ballet dancer by showing her with a dancer's hairstyle, elegant earrings and necklace. Behind her is a sumptuous curtain, as in a theatre. You could imagine her in a ballet tutu. I enjoy designing the covers for my novels, but it is exciting to see what a professional designer comes up with. They, of course, have had years of training and experience to produce these results.